Rochester police officers held eight of the ten highest-paid local government positions in the Finger Lakes region during fiscal year 2025-26, according to payroll data submitted to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). Robert Hill was the region’s highest-paid employee, at $314,040.

Statewide, the 179,222 employees of New York’s counties, cities, towns and villages outside New York City were paid a total of $12.0 billion in fiscal year 2025-26, an average of $67,037, according to the Empire Center’s annual What They Make 2026 report. The Finger Lakes region’s 20,526 employees averaged $60,208, fourth among the state’s nine regions outside New York City. Its police and fire personnel averaged $111,906, the third-highest of any region.

Local governments in Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates counties paid a total of $1.24 billion. A total of 15.6 percent of their employees were paid $100,000 or more, compared with about one in five statewide, and 13 were paid more than Governor Hochul’s $250,000 salary.

Among the findings:

• Ontario County employees averaged $75,199, the highest of any county in the region and eighth in the state, and 22.1 percent were paid $100,000 or more. Monroe County’s 4,944 employees averaged $65,293.
• The City of Rochester’s 3,067 employees averaged $85,147, eighth among the state’s 61 cities, and its 1,106 police and fire employees averaged $128,308. Rochester’s payroll came to $1,236 per resident, the fourth-highest of any city in the state.
• The Town of Greece had the region’s largest town payroll, $26.8 million for 386 employees. Gates’ town employees averaged $76,116, the highest of any town in the region.
• The Town of Gates’ police and fire employees averaged $132,763, the highest in the region, followed by the Village of Brockport ($131,961), the Town of Irondequoit ($130,127), the City of Rochester ($128,308) and the Town of Greece ($127,021). Brockport’s was the best-paid village police department in the state outside Long Island and the Mid-Hudson.
• Four of the 13 best-paid special districts in the state with at least 10 employees are fire districts in the region. The St. Paul Boulevard Fire District’s 23 employees averaged $131,407, Ridge Road’s 76 averaged $123,952, North Greece’s 60 averaged $114,007 and Gates’ 92 averaged $112,442.
• Local government payrolls came to $1,011 per resident in the Finger Lakes, the third-highest of any region. Wyoming County spent $1,697 per resident, counting the county and all of its towns and villages, the third-highest of any county in the state.
• Nadia Granger, a Monroe County employee, was paid $275,891, the most of any non-police employee in the region.

Context: WXXI News reported in February 2026 that Rochester spent $15 million on police overtime in the city’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and that 15 officers were paid more than $250,000. Under department policy, senior officers get first choice of special-event overtime.

Ten Highest-Paid Local Government Employees – Finger Lakes

Two employees in the region were reported at exactly $250,000, the pension earnings limit for Tier 6 members, so their actual pay was likely higher. The amounts listed do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions.

Payroll records for every Finger Lakes county, city, town, village and special district can be searched at the Empire Center's transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. The full statewide report, What They Make 2026, includes searchable pay figures for every local government outside New York City.

The Empire Center is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank based in Albany.

Source for overtime context: WXXI News, February 2, 2026.